David Balk

Professor Balk has worked as a program evaluator and director of research in two community mental health centers in Arizona and taught college students for 30 years. His research interests have focused primarily on bereavement and adolescents, and recently in bereavement among college students. NIMH and PSC-CUNY awarded him grants to examine the topic. He wrote a college text on adolescent development; he also co-edited Handbook of Adolescent Death and Bereavement; Handbook of Thanatology: The Essential Body of Knowledge for the Study of Death, Dying, and Bereavement; and Adolescent Encounters with Death, Bereavement, and Coping. He and Charles Corr co-edited a companion book to the latter on childhood encounters with death, bereavement and coping. In 2011 Springer Publishing Company published his book Helping the Bereaved College Student, and in 2014 Routledge published his book Dealing with Dying, Death, and Grief During Adolescence.

Education:

Ph.D., University of Illinios at Urbana-Champaign - 1981 (Counseling Psychology)

M.C., Arizona State University - 1975 (Counselor Education)

M.A., Marquette University - 1970 (Theology)

B.A., Conception College - 1965 (Philosophy)

Areas of Expertise:

Professor Balk's areas of expertise include adolescent development, bereavement, grief counseling, bereavement during adolescence, bereavement and college students, program evaluation and social science research methods.

Books and Publications

Balk, D. E. Death and dying. A chapter to appear in the Wiley Encyclopedia of Health Psychology (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2018

David E. Balk and Mary Alice Varga. Continuing Bonds and Social Media in the Lives of Bereaved College Students. A chapter to appear in Continuing Bonds in Bereavement: New Directions for Research and Practice, edited by Dennis Klass & Edith Steffen, published by Routledge. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2017

"Bereavement." The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Medical, and Cultural Aspects. Greenwood Press. 56-60. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2014

"Death Denial." The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Medical, and Cultural Aspects. Greenwood Press. 142-45. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2014

"Death Education." The A-Z of Death and Dying: Social, Medical, and Cultural Aspects. Greenwood Press. 145-48. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2014

Dealing With Dying, Death, and Grief During Adolescence. New York: Routledge. (Books and Publications: Book) 2014

"Life Span Issues and Loss, Grief, and Mourning: Adulthood." Handbook of Thanatology: The Essential Body of Knowledge for the Study of Death, Dying, and Bereavement. Routledge. 157-69. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2013

Handbook of Thanatology: The Essential Body of Knowledge for the Study of Death, Dying, and Bereavement 2nd ed. Routledge. (Books and Publications: Edited Book) 2013

Walker, Andrea C. and David E. Balk. "The Stories Students Tell: TAT Stories of Bereaved and Non-bereaved College Students in a Christian Evangelical University." Journal of Psychology and Theology.(Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2013

Balk, David E., Illene Noppe, Irwin Sandler and James Werth. "Bereavement and Depression: Possible Changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: A Report From the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Association for Death Education and Counseling." Omega 63.3: 199-220. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2011

"Prevalence and Severity of College Student Bereavement Examined in a Randomly Selected Sample." Death Studies 34.5. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2010

Sandler, I.W., D.E. Balk, J.R. Jordan, C. Kennedy, J. Nadeau and E. Shapiro. "Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice in Bereavement: Report from the Center for the Advancement of Health." Death Studies 29: 93-122. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2005

"Recovery Following Bereavement: An Examination of the Concept." Death Studies 28: 361-74. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2004

Editor. "Death and Its Meanings." Special issue of Death Studies.(Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2004

"The Evolution of Mourning in the United States from the Early Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century: Middle and Upper-Class European Americans." The Handbook of Death and Dying: Essays in the Social Understanding of Death. Ed. C. Bryant. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. 829-37. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2003

"Adolescent Bereavement and the Domain of Prevention." The Prevention Researcher 9: 14-15. (Books and Publications: Other Article) 2002

"College Student Bereavement, Scholarship, and the University: A Call for University Engagement." Death Studies 25: 67-84. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2001

Wrenn, R.L., Z. Zylicz and D.E. Balk. "Hospice Care and the Bereavement Process in Two Countries: Experience from the United States and the Netherlands." Illness, Crisis, & Loss 9: 173-89. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2001

Awards, Honors and Fellowships

ADEC Service Award. The ADEC Service Award is granted to individuals who demonstrate both excellence in service to the association as demonstrated by consistent committee participation and other high-quality efforts to benefit the growth and development of the association, and contributions to the activities of the association as demonstrated by innovating association programs, conducting workshops, assisting with conferences and serving the association. (Awards and Honors) 2005

Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums

Balk, D. E., Cupit, I. Servaty-Seib, H., Varga, M. A., & de St. Aubin, M. Research that matters 2018: College student bereavement. A symposium at the annual conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, April 26, 2018, Pittsburgh, PA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018

A Symposium in Honor of Phyllis Silverman, presented at the annual conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, April 6, 2017. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017

Mary Alice Varga and David E. Balk. The Bereavement and Social Media Continuum. A poster presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, April 7, 2017 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017

Research That Matters 2017: Psychologists and End-of-Life Care, a symposium presented at the annual conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, April 7, 2017. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017

"Research That Matters 2015: The Family Bereavement Program." Association for Death Education and Counseling. San Antonio, April 10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015

"Bridging the Research-Practice Gap in Thanatology" keynote address. Annual conference of the Australian Centre on Grief and Bereavement. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014

"Remembering Greatness: The Legacy of Robert Kastenbaum." Panel symposium organized and moderated at the Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014

"Research That Matters 2014: Non-Death Losses." Panel symposium organized and moderated at the Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014

"DSM-5 and the Bereavement Exclusion." Panel symposium organized and moderated at the Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013

"Research That Matters 2013: What Clinicians Want Researchers to Study." Panel symposium organized and moderated at the Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013

"Adolescents: The Ignored Bereaved." 2010 Biennial Conference of the Columbia University Seminar on Death. March 20. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010

Balk, David and Andrea Walker. "TAT Stories from Bereaved College Students." Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. April 10. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010

"New Understandings of Bereavement." 3rd annual symposium in honor of Cicely Saunders, sponsored by the Visiting Nurse Service of New York Hospice Care. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009

Keynote address. First National Conference of the Students with Ailing Mothers and Fathers. Raleigh, N.C. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2008

"Engaging College Students in Critical Thinking (Fear and Loathing in the Classroom)." New Faculty Orientation Meeting. Brooklyn College, January 24. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2006

Panel discussion respondent for symposium on bereavement and college students. Annual Conference of the American Psychological Association. New Orleans. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006

"Changes in Expressions of Mourning in the United States: From 1800-2004." Pre-conference workshop. University of Wisconsin - La Crosse. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2004

"Item Writing for the Certificate in Thanatology Exam." Presented a four-hour workshop on developing exam items for the national certification exam administered by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Cincinnati. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2004

"Assessing Quality of Life within Palliative Care." 26th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Cincinnati. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2003

"Changes in Expressions of Mourning in the United States." 25th Annual Conference of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Cincinnati. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2003

Chairman, Mental Health Advisory Board for Students with Ailing Mothers and Fathers, a support network begun at Georgetown Univeristy and now spread to more than 44 U.S. campuses. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2008

Elected for three-year term to the board of directors, Association for Death Education and Counseling. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2008

Member, Course and Standing Committee, Brooklyn College. Met weekly for two to three hours to evaluate petitions from undergraduate students about various concerns each student would raise about courses, grades and degree requirements. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2006

Pedagogical Achievements

Developed fully online graduate course on children and death. 2008

Developed fully online graduate course on bereavement. 2007

Balk, David E. and David Meagher. Developed an 18-credit graduate program, "Advanced Certificate in Grief Counseling," approved by Brooklyn College, CUNY, and the CUNY Board of Trustees. 2005